India has 67 pesticides that have been banned or restricted in other countries.

Nearly 40% of pesticides registered in India belong to Class I and Class II WHO categories of acute toxicity.

Studies show that less than 0.1% of pesticides for pest control fall on target insects. Rest dissipates into the atmosphere, contaminating our resources.

Farming can indeed be done profitably without synthetic pesticides – research proves this; experience on millions of acres shows this.

In Andhra Pradesh, 1000s of farmers have adopted Non Pesticidal Management of crops through a government programme called Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture.

India For Safe Food...

...is a movement for change amongst Indian farmers, consumers and the government to ensure that all Indians have access to safe food, devoid of toxic substances. This movement is being spearheaded by ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture), an informal network of hundreds of organizations and individuals across twenty states of India and we consider you to be part of this movement!

The Latest Updates

New Delhi: The deaths of farmers in Maharashtra, Odisha and now in Tamil Nadu allegedly due to pesticide poisoning have yet again brought into focus the regulatory regime for agro-chemicals. Pesticides and agro-chemicals are governed by the Insecticides Act, 1968, and Insecticides Rules, 1971, which regulate import, registration, manufacture, sale, transport, distribution and use of insecticides (pesticides).

CHENNAI: At least six deaths and the hospitalisation of a few hundred more in Tamil Nadu’s cotton belt - Perambalur, Ariyalur and Salem - are a result of pesticide poisoning, alleged members of a fact-finding committee of activists that recently visited the affected farming families

Chennai: Acording to the members, around 200-300 persons have been hospitalised in the past two months after exposure to deadly pesticides. Six deaths have occurred in three districts of Tamil Nadu. “After instances of deaths and large scale hospitalisations due to pesticide exposure in Vidarbha and later in Telangana, the menace is now surfacing in TN,” points K Balakrishnan of Swaraj Abhiyan.

A 31-year-old farmer from Ariyalur district allegedly died last month due to exposure to pesticides. There have been five such deaths in the last two months in Perambalur and Ariyalur districts and activists and farmers are demanding a ban on pesticides by the Central government.

New Delhi: An independent fact-finding team, which probed the recent pesticide poisoning in Tamil Nadu's Perambalur and Ariyalur districts, today accused the state government of inaction in preventing deaths and sufferings of farmers and farm workers.

Chennai: At least five farm workers have died in two months because of exposure to pesticides in the cotton fields of Perambalur and Ariyalur, investigations by advocacy groups have revealed.
Following reports of farm workers dying or being hospitalised due to pesticide exposure and poisoning, an eight-member team from various organisations that work with farmers visited five villages in both districts and met bereaved families, officials and doctors.

Chennai, December 7th 2017: A fact finding team that investigated the recent spate of pesticide poisonings in Perambalur and Ariyalur districts of Tamil Nadu slammed the state government for its inaction so far despite hundreds of farmers and farm workers being affected. It is estimated that at least 200 to 300 persons have been hospitalised in the past two months after exposure to deadly pesticides, and at least six deaths have occurred, in 3 districts of Tamil Nadu. Reports from other districts are emerging now. However, no ex-gratia relief to the affected, nor concrete preventive measures have been put in place by the government. “This situation is highly preventable and no pesticide poisonings should have occurred at all, if the government had ensured that bannable pesticides were stopped from being sold and used, and if ecological alternatives were taught to farmers for crop protection”, said the team members who presented their findings to the media today.

Even as the Maharashtra agriculture minister Pandurang Fundkar has called for a ban on the herbicide tolerant (HT) genetically modified cotton, the Delhi-based South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC) has claimed that the illegal market is worth about Rs472 crore.
About 35 lakh packets of illegal HT cotton hybrids were sold this kharif season across Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The SABC also claimed that 8.5 lakhs hectares, or 7% of the total cotton growing area in the country, is under the illegal HT cultivation.

Nine farmers have died in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra after an insecticide known as ‘Profex Super’ was sprayed on their Bt cotton plantations. They died after accidentally inhaling toxic fumes while spraying the pesticides